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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday. We're here today to introduce you to our November guest designer. If you were here for the blog Blog Hop last weekend, the you might already know who we're talking about. We are pleased to haveAnna Dabrowska-Pekocla, also known as Finnabair, from Warsaw, Poland as our guest designer in November. The paper in our November Kit "Between Sunrise and Sunset" is the beautiful 7 Dots Studio "Domestic Goddess" collection, and as some of you know, Finnabair is the designer of this paper.

I’m
a woman of many interests: a mixed media artist, scrapbooker and
art journaler

who loves new challenges, experiments and
developing new techniques and skills.I’ve
been creating since 2007, started scrapbooking in 2008-2009 and
mixed-media

in 2009 when I got totally addicted. Through these
years I’ve participated in

group projects such as challenge and
inspirational blogs (also as a founder),

artist swaps and
charity events.

My
projects are mostly media-based: I create paper and canvas
layouts, collages and altered art, tags, journal pages – and
many more. I love texture and believe in power of recycling and
upcycling. I just adore flea market supplies.

Some
of my collages were shown on 2 group exhibitions in local
galleries and my projects were displayed on the show organised
by Craft & Hobby Association in USA.

I
teach my own classes in scrapbooking and mixed-media all over
the world and

create as a freelance designer for scrapbooking
magazines, international shops

and manufacturers such as Prima
Marketing and Sizzix.

Since
October 2011 I'm a product designer and design team coordinator in 7 Dots
Studio - Polish brand of papers and craft supplies.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Welcome everyone! We’re so excited you have found us. It’s hard to believe, but for the past year we have been bringing you our sophisticated and unique kits featuring paper from manufacturers all over the world. In the past year we have featured paper from Sweden, Poland, France, Denmark, and Australia.

We are celebrating with a Blog Hop that will give you a chance to win some awesome prizes from our participating manufacturers (7 Dots Studio, Pink Paislee, ScrapFX and Manor House Designs), our design team, our new sketch designer, and C'est Magnifique Kits. Wow, that's a lot of prizes! Once Upon a Sketch will be showing you how the C'est Magnifique Design Team used their current sketch. We will also be previewing our upcoming November Kit, “Between Sunrise and Sunset”. Our November Kit features the new line of paper from 7 Dots Studio, “Domestic Goddess”.

We are pleased to announce that the designer of the paper, Finnabair, is our guest designer for November! We are really excited to have her join us for the Blog Hop!

Finnabair (Anna Dąbrowska–Pękocka)

We also want to introduce Michele Singh as our new sketch designer. You will get a sneak peek at the November sketch at her blog as you hop from blog to blog.

Now it’s time to show you our November kit and add-ons:

"Between Sunrise and Sunset"

C'est Magnifique Kits will be giving away Free Kits to 4 participants in our Blog Hop! All winners will be selected from a random draw. If the winner is already a member of C'est Magnifique, you will receive your next kit free of charge.

Okay, time to get started. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Visit each blog listed below.

2. Leave a comment on each blog (and become a follower, if required)

3. End the blog hop back here at the C’est Magnifique Kits Blog and leave us a comment, letting us know which manufacturers you would like to see in future kits. You must also be a follower of our Blog to qualify for one of the 4 free kits.

You have until midnight (US EST) on Monday, October 29 to complete the Blog Hop. Check back here Friday, November 2 when we will announce the winners. As long as you have left a comment on each blog listed below, and become a follower, if asked to, you will be eligible for the prizes.

Yay! The blog hop starts in just a little bit - how exciting, huh? Y'all know that I gave away a few prizes already, but I think I'll give away a couple more packages of goodies!

Cherished (Connie) - you just won an assortment of Prima products!!Natalia Yarkova - you have won a free kit!Li-Bee-Ti - you just won an assortment of Prima products!!Nicole Doiran - you have won a free kit!

Now this should kick this hop off right!!

To everyone but Cherished - if you could email me your addresses, that
would be great! Feel free to also shop in the store with free shipping
(just choose add to next kit for shipping and pay using Paypal) as I'm
sending you a big box anyway and a few more items are fine with me!
This is just a perk and not a necessity.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

We are busy behind the scenes getting ready for our first Blog Hop. We sure hope you will be here over the weekend. We have some awesome prizes for you! It's been fun showing you some layouts from our Design Team using our November kit. Today it's Erin's turn to show you one of her layouts. Erin has used the Manor House Creations flowers beautifully on this layout.

When I look at a picture like this one of my oldest, Wyatt, it's clear
that he is growing up! He looks like such a young gentleman and it's
hard to believe that just five years ago, he was my first baby.

When I
went about creating this layout, I wanted the colors to be fresh and
young like my photo, yet masculine too. I loved using the Manor House
flowers here- the green/white/brown combo is just perfect for a boy
page, even if flowers might be considered "feminine".

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Today it's Camilla's turn to give you a look at how she used our November kit with this sweet layout. This layout shows off some of the vibrant colors in this paper collection - Domestic Goddess from 7 Dots Studio.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Happy Monday! Today we have another sneak peek at a layout created using our upcoming November kit. Design team member Joyce has created this lovely layout and it comes with a quick tutorial, as well.

Before I show you her layout, I just want to remind all of you that we are having our very first Blog Hop in just a few days. It will be happening right here on our blog from Friday, October 26 through Monday, October 29. Be sure to stop by one of those days and follow our Blog Hop. There will be numerous prizes up for grabs along the way. I can't give away too much, but I know there will be more than 10 prizes!

I had just finished browsing a site that featured pictures of vintage
corsets and ladies bodices of beautiful gowns, and as I started working
on my last layout for the November kit, my eye caught a glimpse of a
specific design in the lace that is in the kit. It reminded me of some
of the bodice work in the vintage gowns I had viewed. I took a sketch I
created for a page I did in our October kit and manipulated it so that I
could replicate some of the vintage bodice gown work on paper. I really
like how the lacy bits look with the buttons sewn on. A soft brown
Shimmerz spray was used to make the white lace look aged and worn.

I
got so much use out of that Prima vine in the kit, and I think I used
portions of it on most of my November pages. On this page, I applied
gesso to the Prima vine lily flowers and let the red bleed through so
that it would turn into a soft pink color to go with the colors in the
page. Distress Stain metallic copper was applied to the Prima vine
leaves.

The clock was created with a clock stamp and an
application of one splatter each of Distress Stain Sugar Spun and
Antique Linen was applied on top of the stamped image. When the stain
dried, I applied Glossy Accent Crackle and let it dry overnight, then
smeared a little dark brown Distress ink into the cracks and finished
the edge of the clock off with the Distress Stain copper metallic color.
The Scrap Ex flourish was embellished with a soft pink Liquid Pearl.

Over the years my mom and her sisters would often talk about their
wonderful pet Scottie they had as children during WWII. Fortunately, I
had this old punch of a Scottie in my punch collection to add to the
page. He looks so cute dressed up in 7 Dots paper.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

I am so excited that it has been a year since C'est Magnifique sent its first kit out! I, for one, am very excited about having our first blog hop to commemorate the event and it makes me feel so proud that there are followers that took the time to 'advertise' the hop for us.

Valerie had mentioned that I might give out some goodies and I sure am! Here are three lucky winners (and be sure to keep advertising as there's still plenty of time this month to win!).

Tracie Dean - you won a free kit!Angelica Astrom - you won a beautiful package of Prima products! I will send it with this month's kit, ok?

Brandi Matos - you also won a free kit!

To Tracie and Brandi - if you could both email me your addresses, that would be great! Feel free to also shop in the store with free shipping (just choose add to next kit for shipping and pay using Paypal) as I'm sending you a big box anyway and a few more items are fine with me! This is just a perk and not a necessity.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

I haven't gotten to do many layouts of this
cousin, especially of her with her children, so it was a treat to find
this great photo of them that I could use with this months absolutely
fantabulous kit!

I always enjoy working with 7Dots Studios' papers,
especially when designed by Anna Debrowska, more commonly on the web as
"Finnabair." The colors are so yummy and the paper appears to have so
much texture and depth, they are so much fun to work with.

I used some
of the Prima packaging to cut leaves with a Spellbinder foliage die. I
sprayed the appliqués with Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays and some color I
mixed myself and rubbed some of the Ranger Copper Dabber onto the lacing
and gave the chipboard the same treatment.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Hi there blog readers! Our very first blog hop is coming up in less than 2 weeks and we have created a logo just for the event.

We hope you will mark your calendar and be sure to be here one of these 4 days! What would a Blog Hop be without prizes? We have that all take care of. In addition to giveaways from members of the Design Team, we will have 4 manufactures participating in our hop, and I know Leslie will have some prizes from C'est Magnifique. We will also be revealing our November Guest Designer during our blog hop. You won't want to miss it!

If you'd like to help us spread the word, feel free to copy our logo and post it on your blog. If you do, leave us a comment and let us know. I know Leslie reads all your comments and she just might be in the mood to send out a prize or two to those who help spread the word.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Wow, it's hard to believe we are heading toward November! It's time for us to show you the paper that we will be featuring in November and give you a chance to purchase the add-ons. Our paper collection in November will be the beautiful "Domestic Goddess" line from 7 Dots Studio. I must say, this paper is absolutely gorgeous! Take a look:

We also have just a couple of our Flower Add-ons available for purchase. This add-on includes flowers from both Prima and Manor House Creations.

Our Embellishment Add-on for November includes two 12 x 12 sheets of awesome cut-outs by 7 Dots Studio, two Prima items, two chipboard pieces from Scrap FX and one from Want2 Scrap, as well a couple of those appliques that we all love using, and some burlap string from May Arts!

We also have a 7 Dots Studio Embellishment Add-on package so you can have all the wonderful embellishments that were created to go with the 'Domestic Goddess" line of paper.

We have so many selections for you this month! If you don't want an entire add-on package, we have some items from the add-ons available for individual purchase in the store. Visit this section to see all items related to the November kit.

This kit is so much FUN! I really love working with these amazing
colors and the awesome texture that Finn has created on each sheet. The
rivet look around this paper is awesome. This little guy holds a
special place in my heart and I love his sweet pose in this photo. The
Prima Doors packaging had these cute little pennants on the packaging,
so I cut them out and used them below the photo.

I really love the range of colors this kit provides. As my oldest son
gets older, I like to stick with more masculine shades for his layouts,
and the blues in this kit are perfect for a page about him! There are
also some great fussy cutting opportunities with these papers, which
I've done here to create a border behind my photo.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

I also want to remind you that there are 2 days remaining to enter our October Bits & Pieces giveaway. We have also posted our October sketch challenge which will go on for the entire month. Links to both of these posts can be found be clicking on the image in our left sidebar.

For some reason, I really like this photo of my niece, Macy. I think
it's kind of a throw-back to the 60's look with the floppy hat, stringy
hair, and the very natural facial expressions. Not glamorous by any
means, but just very organic.

That's why I wanted to add some green to
this one. I colored the chipboard, doilies, and alphabet with a little
Prima Edger Stamp Pad. I love those things!

"Smiles" by Valerie Serfozo

I loved having a little bit of blue in this kit so I could use this
photo of my granddaughter and niece. I used a little bit of Distress
Ink to make the blue strip of paper just the color I needed to blend
with the polka-dots on the background. I used some Glimmer Mist to
change the color of the darling felt flower that's in this month's
add-on.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Be sure to mark your calendar for the weekend of October 26-29 because
we're having our very first blog hop! Last month was C'est Magnifique's
1-year anniversary, and we thought it would be the perfect time to have a
blog hop. Last month was a busy month at C'est Magnifique Kits so we moved the blog hop to October.

There are going to be lots of great prizes, an awesome
guest designer, several manufacturers will be joining us, and our design team will be
showing off our November kit. Who will be joining us? - well, you will have to be here for our blog hop to find out. You won't want to miss it!

Now we would like to show you a few more layouts from our October guest designer, Keren Tamir. Her layouts this month were just beautiful!

This layout was my second pink layout of the set. I cut out lots of
flowers out of the papers and spread them across the page. I felt that
the pink Green Tara flower was too large for my layout, therefore I
separated it in half and used just one flower across the whole layout.
You can see the larger petals underneath and the smaller pink flower as
the main focus of the flower cluster.

This one by Keren was one of the five featured layouts this week at The Color Room. Congratulations! We think it's awesome, too.

This is a picture of my kids in our recent trip to the eastern part of
Canada. I tried to give this layout an ocean feel. I inked the flowers
in a bluish-green color with Shimmerz ink. I also dabbed alcohol ink on
the flourishes to make them greener.

I’m still working on my best friend's scrapbook for her and here she is receiving
an award in

primary school in Argentina. How cool is that medicine
cabinet in the picture?

The Wild Orchid Navy Aster flowers were dipped
in a gesso mixture to lighten them up and then they were spritzed with a
lavender mist and inked. The cute little beehive elements on the while
blossom flowers were plucked and spritzed with the Lindy’s Stamp Gang
Sapphire mist in the September kit and used as elements
elsewhere. Some kit papers were torn in strips, dry embossed and inked.
Some vellum was dry embossed and spritz with the same Lindy’s Stamp
Gang mist. A Crafter’s Workshop clock mask was used with some light
molding paste on the top and bottom of the page.

The picture is framed using a Martha Stewart punch and then pleating the
paper. The Fabscraps Circle Frame was broken in pieces and used
sporadically on the page. The Prima Bravo Pink Flower was taken apart
and misted with the Shimmerz Bed of Roses, and a pile of glue was set in
the middle, and pink beads were sprinkled on top. I love the centers
in the Prima flowers from the September kit and thought I’d replicate
that same idea. Using the Martha Stewart wild flower punch, I created a
stencil and used black ink and applied sporadically on the page.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Leslie, the owner of C'est Magnifique Kits has put together all her bits and pieces from the October Kit, "Last Kiss of Summer". Now she is ready to give it all away to one of our lucky blog readers. The October kit is filled with paper from Australian manufacturer,

Ruby Rock-it. Since these are Leslie's bits and pieces, you will receive

My dear daughter has always dreamt of having a horse of her own.
Unfortunately we think it's way too much work and money. This summer she
got to go to a horse riding camp for a couple of days where she got to
have her very own horse.

This is the love of my life. My love, my best friend, the father of my children...

I couldn't imagine my life without him.

So, what do you need to do to win the bits and pieces from this kit?

1. You must be a follower of our blog. If you do not already follow
us, just click on the

"Join this site" button on the left sidebar and
you'll be all set.

The winner of this challenge must be a follower of
our blog.

2. Use the Inlinkz tool at the bottom of this post.

3. We are giving you a chance to enter our giveaway twice!
Share this post on your blog (in a blog post, not your sidebar) and you can enter your name again using the
Inlinkz tool below (just be sure to add the link to your blog post).

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Wow, we were blown away by the amazing layouts submitted for our September Sketch Challenge. Now it's time to announce the winners.

Layout number 4 belongs to Alexandra. Congratulations! Leslie will be contacting you via email to get your
mailing address so she can send your package off to you! You will also
have an opportunity to shop in our store and have your purchases shipped to you free of charge. Here's a look at the layout Alexandra created for the Sketch Challenge:

Our second winner was chosen from those who used a C'est Magnifique Kit
when creating their layout. Six layouts were created with our kits.
We put your names in a hat and Angelica Astrom of Sweden is the winner.
Congratulations Angelica, you have won a $10 gift certificate to the C'est Magnifique Store. Leslie will be in contact with you to give you your gift certificate information. Here is Angelica's layout:

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This month it was especially difficult to narrow it down to just 5 layouts to feature.

WOW - so much talent! But here they are, our 5 featured layouts for the month:

Thanks so much to all of you who participated in our September Sketch Challenge. You continue to amaze us with your creativity! Our October Sketch Challenge has been posted and we hope you will play along with us once again.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Welcome to October everyone! It's time for a new sketch and once again Nadia Cannizzo has created a beautiful sketch for us to use.

Now it's your turn to use this sketch as inspiration to create a layout for our challenge.

This challenge is open to everyone. You do not need to be a member of C'est Magnifique Kits
to participate in the sketch challenge and you may use any supplies you wish.

But, since we are a kit club, there is an added incentive to use one of
our kits to create your sketch layout (which I will explain below).

We will be offering 2 prizes this month. One winner from all entries
(selected randomly) will receive a large prize package. The winner will also be able to purchase anything

from our Store and have it shipped free with their prize package - anywhere in the world!

Here's a look at what
Leslie has put together for this month's prize.

Because we are a kit club, our second prize is $10 gift certificate to the C'est Magnifique Store
that will be randomly awarded to someone who obviously uses one of our
kits to create their layout. This is our way of saying "thank you" to
our members.

We will also be "featuring" 5 layouts from the submissions for this sketch.

What do you have to do to enter our sketch challenge?

1. You must become a follower of our blog. If you're already a follower, we thank you!

It's easy to become follower -see the left sidebar.

2. Complete a layout using the sketch, and add it to our blog using the
Inlinkz tool below. Please use the link to your blog post where you
have uploaded your layout (not your general blog address).

Deadline for entering the sketch challenge is midnight, October 31 (US time).

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Let's take a look at how some of our Design Team members used the sketch and our October Kit, "Last Kiss of Summer".

"Go" by Erin Blegen

I've used Nadia's fabulous October sketch to put this layout together.
My boys are BOYS and they LOVE machines! On this day we were out at the
gravel pit and they were so excited about the bulldozer that had been
parked there for the night. And after exploring that for a bit, they
just took off running to see what else they could find. It's days like
these that makes me hopeful my boys will someday be the best of friends.

"Vacker" by Camilla Ekman

My daughter is sitting on a bench outside of the castle of Kalmar. She
doesn't know that I'm taking her picture. Those are really the best
shots to get. The layout is made with the October kit and I've been
using the October sketch.

"Wish" by Keren Tamir

This is a picture of my husband and my two kids. I tried to make a more
masculine layout with this picture. I love using brown tones to achieve
this. I used 2 different Prima packaging for this layout. They are truly
so beautiful and so versatile to use.

"Prom Night Dreams" by Beverly Sams

They just didn't make prom photos like this when I was in high school!
There was the standard, stiff pose, awkward smile, and slightly
terrified "deer in the headlights" photo back then. This photo of one of
my cousins and his date show just how far those pics have come~ The
colors against the neutral background of the wood come to life and
there's nothing awkward about this couple. I altered the colors of the
flowers slightly with the Shimmerz spray from the kit and ran the
chipboard through an embossing folder before using some more mists on
it.